Gan Lin retreated, and only the two men were left in the room, and they were speechless for a while.

"My lord, the matter I want to report is also very serious, involving the harem." Ref broke the silence and said solemnly.

"I'm sure it's her." Rukawa Kaede's faint response surprised Laifu very much.

"My lord, you know everything?"

"Almost, but what happened to that baby that day?"

"God forbid, that kid is still alive!" Riff prayed, and then repeated what Little Plum had said.

"Is what that little plum said reliable? How did you find him? ”

"I feel that what he said is telling the truth, with the reputation of our Jinyiwei, he doesn't dare to tell lies, otherwise when we find out the truth, he will still be killed! On the first day, I inquired that the eunuch was Xiao Lizi, but the harem was heavily guarded, and I did not act rashly, and sent someone to keep an eye on him in secret, until this evening, he was out of the palace, and we took advantage of the opportunity of no one to take him to a secret room prepared in advance for interrogation, and finally I sent him back to the vicinity of the palace, and no one saw him. ”

Ralph replied with some smugness, after all, this was his chance to perform.

"Yes, you are really cautious, you look for another opportunity, go and meet that Father-in-law Gui, and see if you can take the child out, but this matter must be kept secret and not let a third person know."

"Yes, I'll go back and figure it out."

Lai Fu left excitedly, the office was quiet again, Rukawa Kaede hadn't closed his eyes for a day and a night, and now he was ready to rest, but not long after he closed his eyes, there was another knock on the door outside.

"My lord, it's me, I have something important to tell you."

It was Han Duan's voice, although he could already lower it a little, but it was still as clear and crisp as it was.

"Come in."

Rukawa Kaede washed his face with cold water, barely recovered some of his spirits, and most of his drowsiness disappeared.

"My lord, my subordinates reported that there was a problem with the Ministry of Rites, and it seems that there was a tragedy in a disaster area in Jiangnan recently! Liu Jing, the secretary of the military department, wanted to stop it after Lord Liu found out, but was threatened. ”

"Ministry of Rites? The tragedy in the Jiangnan disaster area? Rukawa Kaede muttered as one head and two big.

"Yes, the night before yesterday, thousands of miles away, Jiangbei Province and Jiangdong Province suffered a once-in-a-century flood, and the Dahong River broke its embankment, causing the middle and lower reaches to be inundated, causing countless losses of fertile land and houses, and thousands of deaths."

Then, Han Duan reported the relevant information in detail, which was roughly: Lang Zhong of the Ministry of Rites made a fortune in Jiangnan, and he also made a major event that was vital to human life.

"Got it, you go check it out, but even if you find anything, don't react first, and wait until tomorrow morning when I go to the morning and come back, and then discuss."

"Yes."

"Alright, there you go."

The room finally regained its quietness again, but Rukawa Kaede didn't have the heart to sleep, he picked up the relevant information about the Ministry of Rites and the official files, and the information of Liu Jing, the secretary of the Ministry of War, also found it, and read it carefully under the candlelight, and when he was tired, he stood up and moved for a while, and then continued to look at the thick file.

In this way, when he arrived, some diligent roosters had begun to crow, so he put down the information he had already read, moved the things on the table, and lay down directly on them to sleep, and there was no washing or anything to do, until the middle of the hour, when the eastern horizon was half bright, and the street began to be noisy, and he woke up.

"As soon as the rooster sings the world, today, it is another day full of hope."

After a simple repair of his appearance, Liuchuan Feng put on his court clothes, bought two steamed buns on the street, and walked to the imperial city while eating, this was his first time in office, and he had already thought about what he was going to do in the court.

The Hall of Light is still so majestic and magnificent, and it is located peacefully behind the Imperial City Square.

The first bell rang in the early morning, and the civil and military officials stopped greeting each other and chatting, and stood in their positions and posed.

Liuchuan Xinghe, who was dressed in a purple and gold dragon robe, walked steadily to the middle hall, threw off his long robe, and sat down on the dragon chair that symbolized supreme power, looking like he was in good spirits.

The monarchs and ministers greeted each other and went through the process, and then entered the daily performance of asking questions and discussing countermeasures to solve the problem.

Zhou Shanren, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, walked to the middle of the hall and saluted: "Your Majesty, the minister has a book." ”

"Aiqing Pingshen, what's the matter with you?"

"Since the late spring, the heavy rain in the south of the Yangtze River has continued for several days, resulting in a large rise in the water level of the Red River, the embankment broke in the middle of the night before yesterday, the middle and lower reaches were seriously affected, and the two provinces of Jiangdong and Jiangbei were even more plagued by the beast-like floods, although the heavy rain has stopped, the water level of the Red River is still higher than the warning line, there is too much sediment in the upstream, the embankment in the downstream is not firm, the situation is critical, and I hope that Your Majesty will find a way as soon as possible."

Zhou Shanren originally told him about this yesterday, but the emperor didn't wait for him to open his mouth and dispersed, and he also went to the tune later, but he didn't know if he saw it.

"I read your recitals, and there are a lot of distress recitals sent by Jiangnan, what are you doing in the Ministry of Labor! Where is the silver used every year to build infrastructure? This Hongjiang River always bursts its embankment, and every time it rains heavily, it doesn't work, so is the embankment made of tofu? You're too embarrassed to bring it up. Hum! ”

Long Yan was furious, and he shot the case, so frightened that Zhou Shanren knelt on the ground, and the hundred officials bowed their heads.

Standing in the middle of the right, of course, Liuchuan Feng also remained silent, as far as he knew, the Red River almost every three or five years, it will burst the embankment, it is said that it is a heavy rain once in a hundred years, and the disaster is not the same each time, but it is not too small, and this time it is the most serious one in the past twenty years.

It was really a house leak that happened to rain overnight, he secretly sighed, the inside of this court was already a mess, and there was a natural disaster outside, how could the people live? But we still have to beware of what they don't think is going wrong, such as rebellion.

This is very likely to happen, he has read many historical records, and he has also heard the teacher say, the more this is the case, even survival is a problem for the common people, the easier it is to burst out of things beyond their own ability, they have no way out, they are all dead anyway, why not fight it?

Therefore, Liuchuan Feng decided that they could not be allowed to go on like this, and this situation should be stopped in time, this country belongs to their family, not someone else's.

"Your Majesty, the minister suggested that the first thing to do when sending the minister to Jiangnan is: to save people. Evacuate the people who are still in the flood, find and collect the victims, provide them with new shelter, distribute some emergency food and medical supplies, and protect the living people as much as possible and give them confidence in the empire. ”

Looking at the performance of everyone in the main hall, Rukawa Kaede stood up when the ministers bowed their heads and were silent, and calmly made a suggestion.

"Well, you're right, and there's more."

The Emperor relented a little and sat back on the dragon chair.

"Step 2: Water control. The Ministry of Industry dispatched skilled craftsmen to dig more ditches in the middle and lower reaches near the sea, diverting, diverting, and discharging floods, dispersing the huge pressure of water accumulation in the upper reaches, and raising and reinforcing the embankments at some important passes, and partially intercepting the flow, which is also a buffer time for the middle and lower reaches. ”

"Good idea, but the middle and lower reaches of the Hongjiang River are plains and have a lot of farmland, so this drainage work is not easy to carry out." Zhou Shanren preemptively raised his own question.

"Those farmlands must have been destroyed by the flood, so there is no need to worry about destroying crops, the most important thing at the moment is disaster relief, saving people is important, the food is gone, it is tight, it can still make some, deal with it first, and after the flood, then the imperial court will issue a policy to encourage farming and set bonuses, reduce taxes, reduce farmland rents, or directly provide free wasteland for the victims to cultivate for a year, so that there is nothing to do."

Although Rukawa Kaede said it very well, there were still people who raised objections, and the head of the household department Zhang Buxian said: "No, although the disaster victims are difficult, but the treasury is also quite empty, if the rent is exempted for a year, and taxes are reduced, then the income of our court will be greatly reduced, and it is not enough to maintain the current living conditions." ”

"Lord Zhang, then tell me, is it important for the lives of thousands of Li people, or is it important for the ministers of the court to eat less meat and drink less pot of wine? Wouldn't it be beautiful to take out some of your ordinary luxury items, I don't know how many people you can save, and you can also do some good deeds for the empire and the world, and accumulate a little yin virtue for yourself?! ”

This is not what Rukawa Kaede said, although he has a heart, but he knows that he does not have such a great ability to reprimand the hundred officials, this is the Taishi (Sangong: Taishi, Taifu, Taibao, a minister!) Prestige is remarkable, but there is almost no real power) Jiang Tang came out and said, he was highly respected, and when he said this, he lowered his head again and was ashamed.

"It's just a temporary policy, and when the next year has a bumper harvest, the people will have the need to survive, and they will no longer worry about food and clothing, at that time, will our treasury still be empty, it will definitely be gradually filled, in that way, won't we get better?"

Rukawa Kaede continued, mainly for the emperor, he was afraid that he would be reluctant to give up some of the current luxury life, and he didn't want to offend the ministers of the court, so he deliberately drew a big pie.

Liuchuan Xinghe glanced at him, as if he was making some difficult decision, and finally he said: "Yes, Ah Feng said well, for the future of the empire, for the survival of the people, I have decided that from today on, the ministers of the imperial court and everyone such as the palace harem will reduce the things needed for daily life, and raise funds and materials to be transferred to disaster relief, starting with myself, three meals a day, no more than four dishes per meal, no more than two taels of meat!" And privately donated 20,000 taels of silver! Precious items such as jewelry and jade in the harem are also not allowed to be bought and worn arbitrarily, reducing their monthly silver seal. ”

"Your Majesty."

Jiang Tang flattered first, and Rukawa Kaede and the rest of the ministers also flattered loudly, making the emperor happy.

"Lao Chen is willing to donate all the money in the coming year to the disaster victims, and provide 30% of the gold and silver jewelry at home to express his sympathy and love for the affected people." The ginger soup then began to be donated, so as not to paddle the rest of the ministers.

"Weichen also donated eight thousand taels of silver!" He Fang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, said loudly.

Rukawa Feng knows that eight thousand taels of silver is equivalent to a year's worth of a first-class minister, and he is worth a lot of money, so he opens his mouth so generously, this is to leave a good impression, so that he and the rest of the people will not track down his details?

……

For a time, the ministers expressed their stance one after another, and the donation was a complete success, according to statistics, about one million taels of silver! There are also countless other supplies such as food and medicine.